Chemical Thinking Lab Assignment 1 Guide v1.

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How do we separate substances?

It is estimated that the average American generates over 1300 pounds (590 kg) of trash per year. Plastics typically
make up some 9% by weight of this refuse, mostly in the form of used containers and packaging materials.
Historically, plastic in these forms have been used once and then discarded – and so, as the use of plastics in
packaging has increased, so has the demand for landfills.

Recycling is now considered one of the best ways to manage plastic waste, but recycling poses several problems.
First, different plastics must be separated. In practice this means each distinct kind of plastic must be separated
into homogeneous piles. Separation is critical, since the chemical and physical conditions for recycling differ for
each plastic type, and to assure the purity of the recycled plastic. Separations are a very common problem in
chemistry. The answer is to take advantage of differences in physical properties of the materials requiring
separation. We call physical properties that allow us to separate, identify and quantify materials differentiating
characteristics. Hence, we seek a differentiating characteristic for recyclable plastics. The second problem with
recycling is how to separate plastics economically and in an environmentally responsible way. Again, the solution
is to take advantage of physical property differences, but now with cost, safety and environmental
considerations factored in.

Density
Density (d) is a measure of the amount of mass (m) per unit volume (V) of a given substance or material (d =
m/V); g/mL is the typical unit for density in chemistry. Can density serve as a differentiating characteristic for
separating plastics? Table LA1-1 presents the densities of five plastic types commonly found in the waste of
modern societies:

Table LA1-1 Densities for Five Commercial Plastics (Excluding Foams and PETE)
Recycling Density Recycling Density
Plastic Plastic
Code (g/mL) Code (g/mL)
LDPE
(Low Density 0.92 - 0.93
Polyethylene)
HDPE
PP
(High Density 0.95 - 0.97 0.85 - 0.90
(Polypropylene)
Polyethylene)

V PS
1.3 - 1.6 1.02 - 1.04
(Polyvinyl Chloride) (Polystyrene, non-foam)

Study the table carefully. Can density be used to separate the five different plastic types in bulk? At this point
you may be wondering why ranges are given and not discrete density values. The reason is that a given type of
plastic can be manufactured under different conditions to yield different material properties, and different
densities result. An extreme example will illustrate the point. Polystyrene is a hard, rather brittle general-
purpose plastic that can be molded to give rigid products. But when processed with a blowing agent (inert gas)
molten polystyrene gives a foam (Styrofoam). The density of a typical molded polystyrene fork is 1.03 g/mL,
while the density of Styrofoam is 0.145 g/mL. Water has a density of 0.997 g/mL near room temperature (25 °C),
so Styrofoam floats in water while polystyrene forks sink, a behavior which you have no doubt experienced. As
you well know, Styrofoam has excellent insulating properties, while plastic forks have excellent mechanical

CHEM 151 Lab Assignment 1 Guide v1.1 MY © 2020 8-5-20 Chem Think Technical Press CBC UofA
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strength. Hence, different manufacturing conditions yield different material properties, and different densities
result even though we are dealing with the same plastic.

In actual recycling operations, plastics undergo some degree of manual sorting. For starters, foams are typically
removed. For Lab Assignment 1, we will also assume PETE (polyethylene terephthalate ester), the plastic
associated with bottled beverages, has also been removed by manual sorting. The plastics that remain can be
ground up in bulk giving a mixture of plastic fragments. Now consider Table LA1-1. Can density serve as a
differentiating characteristic in the separation of LDPE, HDPE, PP, V and PS fragments?

The next question is how to accomplish a density-based separation in an economical, time efficient and
environmentally responsible way. Since irregular solid fragments are involved, carrying out the separation in
liquids seems best. One obvious liquid is water. Water can be considered readily available in quantity and is
inexpensive and environmentally responsible compared to virtually any other liquid. Hence, we seek to design
our density-based separation using water. Water has a density of 0.997 g/mL at 25 °C. Looking at Table LA1-1
can the five types of plastic fragements be separated with water alone? It appears V and PS will sink in water
while PP, LDPE and HDPE will float. So, water alone
Table LA1-2 Densities for Three Liquids at 25 °C
can’t separate the five plastics. Apparently other
liquids with densities different from water are Liquids Density (g/mL) at 25 °C
needed. Ethanol and solutions of sodium chloride
(NaCl, table salt) are relatively inexpensive and Water 0.997
environmentally compatible – and have densities Ethanol 0.785
different from water as indicated in Table LA1-2.
Further, none of the plastics are soluble (dissolve) 30% Sodium chloride solution
1.202
(saturated NaCl solution)
in water, ethanol or sodium chloride solutions.

Now revisit Table LA1-1. Can these liquids of different densities Table LA1-3 Density of Ethanol/Water
be employed to efficiently separate the plastic fragments? That Mixtures at 25° C
is, can we isolate in bulk each plastic type employing the three
Volume % of Ethanol Density (g/mL)
liquids in some sort of sequence? You might find the
ethanol/water density table (Table LA1-3) to the right useful. 10 0.984

20 0.972
Determining Density
30 0.960
Table LA1-1 reports density ranges for the various plastics. So,
how are densities determined for a particular plastic sample? 40 0.945
The definition of density (d) as the amount of mass per unit 50 0.927
volume of a given substance or material (d = m/V) suggests the
60 0.905
density of a particular plastic sample can be found by weighing
the sample and dividing by its volume. For solid plastic samples 70 0.882
that are rectangular, cylindrical or spherical in shape, we can 80 0.855
use the following well-known volume formulae to calculate the
90 0.825
volume:
𝑉 = 𝑙𝑤ℎ

𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ
4 3
𝑉= 𝜋𝑟
3

Where, V = volume, l = length, w = width, h = height and r = radius.

CHEM 151 Lab Assignment 1 Guide v1.1 MY © 2020 8-5-20 Chem Think Technical Press CBC UofA